About the Writers & Maintainers of This Website
Carey and Tony are Government Brats. Tony's parents worked for the Agency for International Development and the IRS. Carey's Dad was top-aide to H H Humphrey throughout his years as a US Senator and as Vice President of the United States under Lyndon Johnson. We met just out of high school in Bethesda, MD and have been married for a somewhat shocking 35 years!
Tony has roots in Northern California and Hawaii, Carey in Minneapolis and Texas. But, like many Americans, we've lived all over the place since. Before moving to Cozumel full-time in 2002, we spent 15 years in the beautiful city of Winston-Salem, NC. We still maintain a small cabin in the nearby Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. We built it ourselves in 1975.

Tony's been a freelance computer consultant for 30 years, Carey a repertory actress and, later, writer and producer of a multi-award-winning children's video series called Preschool Power!

In 1998 we came to Cozumel on vacation, fell in love almost immediately and ended up purchasing a 52 x 14.5 meter strip of land in the heart of downtown San Miguel.

Photo at left: a street sweeper gathers up red flamboyan blossoms in San Miguel's downtown plaza near where we purchased our building lot.

 

We started building in the far back corner of the long lot in 1999, snatching months away from our jobs in the US as time and money allowed.

Once we got the hang of it, thanks in large part to the Great Mayan Construction Team we found to work with us, we couldn't seem to stop and went on to build a second home on the same long lot in the center of downtown San Miguel.

Bernadino and his sons are a wonderful team who have built two large places for us. We can't recommend them highly enough. If you need someone to build a home for you on the island, these are honest, highly competent men who are a joy to work with.If you'd like us to put you in touch with our friends, EMAIL US.
We designed our first home, Casa Cascada, around the existing well on the property.

This website started partly as a labor of love and partly as a means to get the word out about villa rentals. Since those early days, however, the site has begun to take on a life of its own. And we are currently expanding our offerings in several areas.

Bowing to the inevitabilities of life in these modern times, we are now including an entire section with information for cruise passengers who only have one day to spend on the island and want to make it a better quality experience than what they can get via the cruiseship tours. We are also greatly expanding our Living on Cozumel section of the site, a reflection of the growing number of ex-pats who make their homes full or part-time on the island these days.

 

All this plus keeping tourist info up-to-date and moderating the Discussion Forums requires a great deal of our time and attention. For this reason we have recently begun to take modest commissions on some, but not all, of the tours and activities and villa rentals you see recommended on this site. This at least pays us a little something for our time and effort in bringing frequently up-dated info to you free of charge.

If you are considering purchasing goods or services from a sponsor you see advertised on these pages in the coming months, there are a couple more things you should know about us.

#1. We like money as much as the next guy, but.......we're not hurting for it thanks to an adequate retirement income and the fact that we live modestly here on the island. This gives us the luxury of being very choosy in our recommendations. We're not terribly keen, for example, on dolphin swims and, despite the fact that this company pays handsome commissions for referrals, we just don't feel like promoting them on our website.
Tony trading stocks online from our home office on Cozumel
Ditto for villa rentals that we would not personally enjoy staying in, car rentals with lousy service records and tours we try out and find are shoddily managed, over priced, boring or any combination thereof. In short, we have the luxury of being very, VERY choosy.

#2.. We live on the island full-time.

(And, yes, we still love it, in case you were wondering.) Because we're here year-round, it's relatively easy for us to personally check out every single lodging, restaurant, car rental or activity that we recommend on this website.And, unlike printed guidebooks where updating is relatively infrequent due to the prohibitively high cost of print, we can recheck and update our recommendations frequently.

ABOVE, chewy-centered rolls from Zermatt's on the corner of Avenida 5 and Calle 2 are one of our favorite items at this great little bakery which deserves its rep as a San Miguel landmark.

#3..More than 1/2 of our advertising and 9/10 of our recommendations are published free of charge.

Although we do accept payments now from a few fine companies that can afford to pay for it, the vast majority of recommendations and at least half of the ads you'll see appear here gratis. There are many small, hard-working businesses on the island that we think are doing a great job. But they've already cut their prices so low that they have no overhead left for commissions or buying ad space.

 

We recommend these businesses not for any monetary gain -- but because we believe in them. It is also our small way of trying to give something back to the wonderful community that is now our home.

It's also good for you, of course. Because this website will put you on the inside track for unique services and goods -- not to mention some excellent deals.

 
ABOVE tiny, charming Bugamillias on Avenida 10 between Rosada Salas and Calle 1 has lovely table linens and finely made clothing. Lots of dressy children's clothing also.